We will first be in Hebrews chapter 11. We've talked about foundational things over the past few weeks. Today is no different. The Lord put this on my heart on the trip. I was thinking, meditating upon a passage of the scriptures. You ever meditate on a passage of the scripture and it's a promise or it's something that we should rest in, and then you begin to ask yourself, well, why don't you then? I begin to ask myself, well, why don't you? Why haven't I? And that, that truth is true and genuine saving faith. So what, I started thinking, what are some of the characteristics? What's the definition of true and genuine saving faith in Christ? Or some would term, well, true and genuine faith or saving faith. And I often think, well, why did you add the adjective? In other words, why didn't you just say faith? And there's a reason, there are reasons that we know, because there are people out in the world that talk about faith all the time, but it's not true and genuine saving faith. It's not the faith that the Bible speaks of. In this fallen and sinful world, brethren, many, many people have faith and confidence, sounds good so far, right? In many, many other things other than Christ. People even have faith in their science books when they go to college. I've asked people before, I said, you believe the science, you believe there are molecules floating around here. You believe that there's an atom with a proton and a neutron and there's an electron rotating around it like the planet Saturn. You believe that it actually exists. It's actual. But you can't see them. So why do you believe them? Well, it's written in my science book. Well, why don't you believe the word of God then? I've asked those questions before. Or you'll hear people say, well, I have faith. I believe I'm a good person. I'll go to heaven. Because I'm a good person. That's like saying I have faith in myself, or I believe in myself. You hear that all the time. Or I believe I have a good heart. I'm not as bad as the next guy. I'm not Adolf Hitler. I haven't done those things. I believe God will consider the life that I've lived. Or you hear people that actually say they have faith in faith. It's just faith. To say you have faith in faith is, that's truly blind faith. That's the definition of faith in nothing. But beloved, our faith is not blind. And I begin to think about our faith. Our faith is not blind, but the person and object of our faith is Jesus Christ. We believe him because of what the word says, so then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God. So our faith is tied to the person of Christ. We believe the testimony of the apostles and the prophets. We believe the truths that were written by the apostles of Jesus Christ and him crucified, of his death, burial, and resurrection. So what are some of the characteristics of this saving faith? A good preacher friend of mine, and what made me think about this again, and I was in, I love James chapter one, I've committed it to memory, and the first part of it, because I like to rehearse it over and over in my mind, and the first part of it is, count it all joy when you fall into diverse temptations, knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience. And that's where the Lord stopped me. And he said, so why haven't you trusted me? So why when the temptations or the trials come, why have you been worrying? Why have you become cast down? Why haven't you trusted me? In fact, James says, count it all joy, not when you fall into one trial, but when you fall into diverse, many temptations. And so the Lord just began, and that's kind of where the connection of that passage in Colossians 3.15, let the peace of God rule in your heart or in your hearts. My wife reminded me of that. There's always a reason to trust God. We trust God for the salvation of our souls, but when the earthly situations begin to come into our lives, I'll speak of myself, sometimes we go into a tailspin. we begin to worry. We're not trusting God. Trust in the Lord with all thine heart. Faith in the scriptures is synonymous with trust and believe. Believe means it's almost the same thing if you look at the original word. To trust God is to have faith in him. True and biblical faith is defined, if you're in Hebrews 11 1, The writer of Hebrews there says, now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. I think of John 3, three, except a man be born again, or a woman, or anyone, except they be born again, except they have that new life, they cannot see the kingdom of God. Not literally see with the sight of your eyes, but perceive and see through the eyes of faith. And I think that's what the writers say, that's what Jesus meant there. So God-given faith gives us the assurance or confidence that the things that we hope for and the things that are promised to us in the word of God are true. Faith is like a big, if I could liken it to this, and think about your faith now, because really we're gonna talk about in a minute, it's your faith, but it's God-given faith. So faith is like a large conduit or small conduit through which we see Christ. It's the conduit that connects us with heaven. True saving faith enables you to perceive, to believe, to see, to understand truths that are unknown to most of fallen humanity. Things that you can actually see, meaning understand and perceive. Most of fallen humanity can't see those things. Faith connects you to the actual substance. It connects you to real evidence and proof of what God has promised to us in His Word. In fact, the writer of Hebrews right there in verse 3 says, We could say, through faith, We understand that Christ died for our sins. So we believe, brethren, through faith. Now, John 20, one of Jesus' apostles turned there in John 20. Here's one man, and you've probably heard this, this is Thomas, you've probably heard this personally, of someone who says, show me. Christianity's not from Missouri, the show-me state. Thomas said, show me. He wasn't there when Jesus first appeared. He says in verse 24, Thomas, one of the 12, called Didymus, was not with them when Jesus came. The other disciples therefore said unto him, we have seen the Lord, they saw him with their eyes. But he said, except I shall see in his hands the print of the nails and put my finger into the print of the nails and thrust my hand into his side, I will not believe. And after eight days, again, his disciples were within and Thomas with them. Then came Jesus, the doors being shut and stood in the midst and said, peace be unto you. So he just appeared to them, didn't come through the door. Then saith he to Thomas, reach hither thy finger, and behold my hands, and reach hither thy hand, and thrust it into my side, and be not faithless, but believing. And Thomas answered and said unto him, My Lord and my God. And Jesus said, Thomas, because thou hast seen me with your eyes, obviously thou hast believed, blessed are they that have not seen i.e. Christ, and yet believe. Beloved, that's who we are to be. 1 Peter 1.8. 1 Peter 1.8. I didn't tell you about that preacher friend of mine. I started to tell you. Preacher of the Word of God, very knowledgeable man of God. Chest tightened up, pain through the arm, having a heart attack. He remembers going out and he's thinking that he's going to die. He said, the only thing that mattered in that moment didn't matter about me being a Calvinist, didn't matter about any of my tertiary theology, my eschatology. What matters is that I had faith in the crucified Christ. That's it. That my faith was real. That's all that mattered as his eyes closed. He survived, but he had a heart attack. But he said that's all that mattered. And that's why I've wanted to go back to these foundational truths, beloved. I want us to be rooted and strengthened in our faith, in the foundational truths of our own Christianity. 1 Peter 1.8 and 9, actually, let's see. That's not really where I wanted to go. The passage says, whom having not seen you love. Isn't that second Peter or first Peter? I think that's first. That is one, okay. I was looking in the wrong Peter. Whom having not seen you love. in whom though now you see him not, yet believing you rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory, receiving the end of your faith, which I believe speaks about the end of our lives. That's when faith will end, the end of your faith, even the salvation of your souls. And then Hebrews 11, 13, Hebrews 11, 13, the writer speaks of Abraham when he says this, Well, this is not the Abraham when I'm getting myself all cattywampus. Hebrews 11, 17 is Abraham. But here, Hebrews 11, 13, these, that is these saints, all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off. How did they see them? By faith. And were persuaded of them and embraced them and confessed that they were strangers pilgrims on the earth. And of course when you read all of Hebrews 11, it's clear that these saints had supernatural God-given faith. The eyes of their faith had been opened. So if you have true and genuine saving faith, the second thing is, is that you must understand that if you have it, it was given to you by God. It's a gift of God. No one knows God by natural ability or reasoning. No one does. No one can know God that way unless God intervenes and raises that dead soul to life. Unless God does that, there is no saving faith or understanding of the gospel. The fact is, and Paul says this in 2 Thessalonians 3.3, he says, all men have not faith. Not everybody has faith or the faith of God's elect, it's given. Every one is born dead in trespasses and sins. Dead people don't have faith. And you hath he quickened, brought to life who were dead in trespasses and sins. Jesus even talks about that. That hour when the dead shall hear the Son of God and they that hear shall live speaks of regeneration. So the only way that you may know God is for God to reveal himself to you. God does that through the faith that he gives you through the preaching of the gospel, the hearing of his word. Again, faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God. I've recited that scripture twice. It's very basic. It's very easy to understand. But beloved, it teaches us the importance of the Word of God, hearing the Word of God, reading the Word of God, meditating upon the Word of God. It is the fuel, it is the engine of your faith to direct you toward God. And so it's so very important. Faith is a gift, for by grace are you saved through faith, and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God. It was given to you by God. Now you see the scriptures often When the apostles or Jesus spoke to those, he says, be it according to your faith. He gives you faith, but now it's your faith. And Christ expects us to exercise that faith. To as many as received him, to them gave he the power. to become sons of God, even to them that believe in his name, which were not born of the will of the flesh, nor the will of blood, nor the will of man, but of God. It speaks of that regeneration where God gives that saving faith to those that believe. John 6.65, you can look there. John chapter six and verse 65. This is after that passage where Jesus spoke to those disciples and said, except you eat the flesh of the son of man and drink his blood, you don't have any life in you. Here he says, therefore said I unto you that no man can come unto me except that were given unto him of my father. Listen, I want you to read those simple passages of the word of God, the simple passages, the promises that you understand. And I want you to ask yourself if you really believe that. Because that's how we grow. When the scripture says, God has promised he will never leave you nor forsake you. Do you believe that? Jesus said, all you need is a little mustard seed of faith and you can move mountains. So you don't need a whole lot of Faith, but you need the right faith, the faith that God gives, the faith that comes from the word of God. God has impressed upon me of late when I read those passages like James chapter one and verse three, count it all joy when you fall into diverse temptations. Well, you know, the fact of the matter is I just haven't believed that. I have not, I've been faithless in that when trials come. The apostles, I heard Brother Randy preach on forgiveness. The apostles, Jesus said, forgive them 70 times seven. They said, increase our faith. Randy talked about the difficulty of forgiveness. You know why? Because it's, you need the faith of God to do it. because it's hard, and so we need to trust God to do those very simple things. Listen, true and genuine saving faith in you will be proved, it'll be tested, it will be tried. I often think, when I think of the testing and trying of our faith, I think of the F-18 Hornet. It's a fighter jet, Navy fighter jet, Navy and Marine fighter jet. When they design these airplanes, they go through flight tests for a long time. They test all of the systems. The F-18 is a Navy aircraft, so it lands on aircraft carriers. So it must have very durable, strong landing gear because of the way they land on that little boat. It comes in, if you watch a carrier landing, go to YouTube and watch a carrier, you see them, they come down and they slap the deck hard. This is like a 20-ton aircraft. And it grabs that hook. In the flight test, that fighter pilot landed, there was film of him landing that airplane, trying to break the landing gear. They actually put that thing in a machine before he flew it. And it just dropped the airplane from, they just kept dropping it over and over again. Drop it, drop it. It's a machine. And then the pilot flew it. He landed it. It grabbed the hook. He took off again. And the hook had the cable. And the airplane went wham, and it came back down on the ground again. So after they do all that, they're trying those landing gear. They bring it back in and inspect it and see what broke. See if it could withstand. You're gonna feel like that F-18 sometimes. God's gonna test you. The trying of your faith, work of patience, but then he says, but let patience have her perfect work. Let, it's like to let the peace of God rule in your heart. Let God work. Trust God. I want to slap myself around sometimes. Why don't you trust God? And beloved, that's, it's so important. It's our life. Do I trust Christ with my never-dying soul? Why can't I trust him for a finite trial in this life? That's gonna stop at least when I die. So why can't I? Peter says, the trial of your faith being much more precious than of gold which perishes. Gold perishes. It's precious to a lot of people in the world, right? The trial of your faith is much more precious than gold, because faith endures. Faith is more valuable. It's precious. It connects you to heaven, to God. Though it be tried with fire, talking about your faith, might be found unto praise and honor and glory at the appearing Jesus Christ and now Abraham Hebrews 11 17 so true and genuine faith you're if you have the right stuff God's gonna test it He's going to test your faith. He's not just gonna give you Eternal life in this world where it's fair winds and following seas It's just not the way the kingdom of God works And there's a design in him trying you. We're so depraved, he's got to give us reasons to trust him. Because if he didn't, we wouldn't. No trial, guess what? No prayer. I'm all good. That's us, prone to wonder. Hebrews 11 17, by faith, Abraham, when he was tried, offered up Isaac, and he that received the promises offered up his only begotten son. He trusted God. You watch Abraham, you read the story, we just read it recently. He didn't kick against the pricks. He didn't resist God. He brought him up there, laid him on the wood, tied him up, and got ready to cut his throat until God stopped him. God was trying his faith. Proverbs 17. The fining pot is for silver and the furnace for gold, but the Lord trieth the hearts. He's going to try your heart. And in Proverbs 25, four, take away the dross from the silver and there shall come forth a vessel for the finer. The trials, the fires that God sends into your life removes sin. There's a sanctifying effect. It drives us to the throne of grace, which it should do. God will try that which he has begotten in you, which is his faith, now it's your faith, to magnify his name in you. So God will try true and genuine saving faith in you. He's going to try it. So when you read those very simple scriptures, there's so many simple scriptures and we read them, we say, yeah, that's so good. Ask yourself, do I believe it? That's what I've been doing lately. Do I believe it? And then true and genuine saving faith will grow and become stronger. You know how it does? Try, it'll be tried. take away the dross from it, it's shinier. John Green is a dentist. He told me when they would put fire to the gold that they'd use in your teeth, and he said you knew that it was pure and he got the dross out of it when you could see your reflection in it. It would be perfectly like a piece of glass. The trials that you will endure as a child of God are by God's design to bring you into a closer relationship of trust and confidence in your God and in your Heavenly Father. Colossians 2. And listen, there truly is a joy. There is a strengthening of your faith and you should experience this. You should be further along than you were in recent days and years in your life. God tries you. I've often called it the Christian growth cycle in Romans chapter five, where the Bible says, tribulation worketh patience. Worketh means it produces it. So tribulation, trials, troubles, afflictions, tribulation worketh patience. Patience meaning that I'm still, I trust the Lord. Patience worketh experience. We know that God will never leave us nor forsake us and we experience God's grace and God's help in those times of trouble. Tribulation worketh patience and patience experience and experience hope. And hope maketh not ashamed because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts. by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us. The Holy Ghost, the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, long-suffering, faith. The fifth fruit of the Spirit. So we should have it. God's gonna prove it, and it will grow stronger. Colossians 2.6, notice, as you have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in him. Rooted and built up in him, and established in the faith, As ye have been taught, abounding therein with thanksgiving. Remember 2 Corinthians chapter five and verse seven? It was a parentheses right in that chapter. Paul stopped and said, for we walk by faith, not by sight. We walk by faith. Those little, short, easy to understand scriptures will help us so much. the larger picture of our Christian lives that one verse we walk by faith and not by sight but so often we walk by sight and not by faith we want things we want we want it to be good down here second Thessalonians 1 Paul opens to the church at Thessalonica he says grace is